


Bitty Dinah Stories

by Merfilly



Category: DCU (Comics)
Genre: Character Study, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-01
Updated: 2014-03-01
Packaged: 2018-01-14 04:27:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,319
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1252831
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Merfilly/pseuds/Merfilly
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Several points from Dinah's childhood</p>
            </blockquote>





	Bitty Dinah Stories

**Author's Note:**

> These were tales I came up with as I tried to use Golden Age History to flesh out Modern Age Dinah Lance's childhood. Timelines and events were smooshed or stretched to make them cooperate with my muses. Not canon compliant by a long shot.

Larry tried hard not to look into his wife's eyes, over the dark head of their daughter. He didn't want to see the need to be out there growing again in beautiful blue orbs. He didn't want to be reminded of the fact he hadn't been enough, there for a while. Didn't want to see the lust for adventures was stronger than her need to nurture their own child.

He knew she was a faithful wife now. He would even bet she would not stray again. He even had no doubts that it had been one of her teammates. He was sure, if he looked hard, he could figure out which one.

Half his money had been made on learning who the other woman or man was when he was moonlighting as a P.I.; surely Dinah didn't think he was that stupid, as to not have seen the signs.

He had not said anything, had let it go. An indiscretion, and if that made him a willful cuckold, then so be it. As soon as he had picked up the signs, he had cut back his long hours, started putting the romance back into their lives, and gone on. 

Now they had Dinah Laurel. Junior, already, to most of the team. Little Miss, for her daddy. She was barely six months old, and already had him wrapped hard around her finger. 

Looking up, seeing that old hunger gnawing in his wife, he had to repress a sigh. If only Dinah Laurel held the same appeal for her mother.

"Show me how to burp her again?" he asked, dodging the talk they needed, in order to be sure he could handle a baby girl in all ways.

It was just a matter of time before the Mama Canary wasn't going to be home with her nestling, after all.

* * *

Ted Grant had never seen himself as a family man. But when a bout of appendicitis put Larry Lance in the hospital, and Dinah was fretting over just how she would live up to her promise to take their daughter trick or treating, Ted piped up with 'I'll do it'.

Here he was, a big grown man with boxing titles under his belt, staring down at a tiny little girl with wings on her back, a green dress that only came to mid thigh (and god she was going to freeze if his bones were right about the evening), and glitter all in her hair and on her skin.

"Hellcat, why all the glitter?" He was dreading the inevitable part of carrying her, and getting all the glitter on himself.

"Pixie dust, so I can fly," she said, as serious as a three year old could be. 

Ted told himself next time, he'd be sure to be busy for Halloween, as he took his Tinkerbell's hand to start the pillaging of Gotham for candy.

* * *

As usual, Momma had not liked the idea. For once, Daddy overruled her. So it was that Junior got dressed in her black pants, and the little blue shirt that reminded her of Daddy's uniform shirt. She stuck her little sheriff star on the side where a pocket should be, and marched out to go with Daddy to work.

Everyone at the precinct had their daughters with them, but only she looked ready to be a cop. By mid morning, she had someone's hat and a pair of real handcuffs.

She rode between Daddy and his partner to get statements. That, she knew, was as important as chasing the bad guys down. It was statements and witnesses that made the bad guys stay gone.

By the time they went home that day, she was asleep in her daddy's arms, and more determined than ever to be just like him.

* * *

Not sure what to expect of Heroes, but knowing that Unca Ted and Unca Jay and Unca Alan were always proud of her, she made it through dinner without a single accident. She had been really terrified she might embarrass her mommy in front of them, but Daddy had said she was old enough. It was not until dessert that it dawned on her that the Heroes of Legend were just her uncles and her mommy and her aunt.

One day, she would be like them, and then her Daddy would smile so proudly at her, like he did Mommy.

* * *

Dinah sighed and slipped the wig off as she came inside the apartment. She didn't make much noise, even as she eased the leather jacket off her shoulders. Gloves and boots followed, all carefully discarded in the closet by the door. She moved further into the living room, to go to the bathroom before disturbing her husband, and had to stop.

Nestled in the great big chair that Larry sat in normally, was her daughter. At just four, little Di was a tiny thing still. Seeing the child, curled under one of Larry's old flannel shirts made Dinah's heart ache for just a moment. She had made her choice, and Larry was the better parent, but these unguarded moments? These, she regretted missing.

Walking close, thinking that Little Di needed to be in her bed, she saw that her daughter was holding, loosely, a handmade card. That got Dinah's curiosity up, and she took it, seeing a large hand cut heart had been glued to the outside.

Inside, written with painstaking care in crayon, was a note.

"Hapy Mudder's Day, Mama. Thank you for savng us all evryday. Love, yor liddle Di."

Tears touched the heroine's eyes, and Dinah looked down in pride at her baby girl.

"I love you, angel of mine." Her words were soft, as she picked the child up, cradling her close, and carrying her to bed.

Larry would find them there the next morning, his daughter's card still in his wife's hand, and both safely asleep.

* * *

A lot of fathers would have wished for a sunnier day than the gray, drizzling weather of Gotham's early spring. Being stuck at home with a child usually meant finding some excuse to get said child out of doors and do much needed auto/home/yard work.

Not Larry Lance. He looked out, saw the day was going to be a sleepy one, and made sure to go ahead and mix up oatmeal for breakfast, with a sweet side of cocoa for his daughter, and steaming mug of coffee for himself. The little girl that had brightened his life came to the table with a sleepy pout about being cooped up, but her eyes lit at the sight of the breakfast waiting for her.

No sooner had she finished, and insisted on dragging a chair to the sink to 'wash' her dishes, than she was all smiles and bouncing to the den to play. That let Larry rewash her dishes, smiling at the attempt to help him, as well as to get things he and Dinah had been letting slide done. 

He'd gotten the kitchen done to his satisfaction, and was contemplating whether to break his promise to Dinah about not touching the living room (she had said she would do it when she got back) when he felt a tug on the upper part of his pants leg.

"Tell me a story."

A smile came to his lips as Larry looked down at the Little Miss in his life. She was dressed up in her Amazon costume, an outfit that consisted of a blue skirt she had glued stars too, a red sleeveless shirt, a tiara-style head band with another star glued to it, and her red galoshes. Two very heavy bracelets, obviously from his wife's jewelry box, completed the outfit today, though Larry knew good and well there was a cape, shield, and sword somewhere in her toys.

"Well, Little Wonder, would you like to hear about Aunt Polly saving the JSA?"

"No, Daddy." She shook her head vigorously, making her braided pigtails bounce around.

"How about the time she and your momma..." Larry hastily trailed off at the crinkle of Dinah Laurel's nose.

"Uncle Johnny tells the Mommy stories," she told him seriously, making him laugh low and warmly. That was so true, considering Johnny's half-hearted stammering crush.

"Why don't we go curl up in Daddy's chair, and you tell me what you want to hear?"

"Okay, Daddy." The small girl zipped off as Larry got himself a pipe, since his daughter didn't like the smell of his cigars. By the time he had settled, her small red blanket that served as her cape, with its glued on stars, was in her hands and she was climbing into his lap.

"Tell me a story about Unca Ted and Aunt Polly."

//Of course.// If there was anyone who rivaled Larry in that child's heart, it was the crusty old ex-boxer. "How about when the JSA was off in space to fight the giant alien..."

Dinah listened, rapt in her attention to the man's voice, her 'cape' pulled over for warmth. She stayed awake through all of the adventure Polly and Ted had enjoyed in the JSA's absence, foiling a robbery of the National Treasury all on their own. Only as he got toward the end, did Larry find his daughter's eyes closing.

It would be almost an hour later when Dinah Drake Lance came home, to find her husband in the chair, pipe nestled in one hand to the side, and their small daughter tucked into his side, both very firmly asleep on this rainy day.

* * *

Larry blinked twice as his daughter came out of the bedroom, holding on to her mother's hand.

"You put her up to it," the former police officer turned private eye said.

"No, Larry, I did not. She picked it out." Dinah was smiling indulgently down at her daughter, though.

"Like it, Daddy?" the small, suddenly solemn, black-haired girl asked.

Larry took in the authentic look of a New York Giants team uniform, the number '4' emblazoned on it and had to grin. With her hair braided tight down and under the shirt collar, Dinah Laurel was the best bat-man Larry'd ever seen, and he smiled.

"Ott's my favorite, and he was short as you, I bet," he said happily. She lit up with a smile, picked up her miniature baseball bat and bag, before going to him to start their trick or treating.

* * *

Ted barely made it in the door before she was wrapped around his knees, crying her heart out. Larry gave him a very rapid shake of the head, when Ted bent to lift her up, but the boxer ignored the warning. This was his Hellcat, the only child he ever wanted in his life now. He had never learned his son's fate, and had to bitterly accept that, but this little girl was never going to face that, he had vowed.

The boxer had his goddaughter in his arms, then, when his teammate walked back in from the kitchen and she immediately frowned. 

"Don't you dare coddle her. She's supposed to be learning a lesson," Dinah Senior snapped.

"I'll hold my Hellcat when I first show up to babysit, Di." He grinned unrepentantly as the child in his arms settled to sniffling sobs, forehead pressed to his neck.

"And Larry wonders why she's so high strung," Dinah groused, but she grabbed her keys and her pocket book; Larry was already at the door.

"We'll be back by one, Ted." The couple left, and Ted flopped onto the couch, holding the tiny little girl on his chest. When she was calm, he tipped her chin up.

"Tell me why my girl was crying?"

"Mama said I can't be a stuper-hero, ever." She dragged the back of her hand against her eyes.

"Tell you what, Little Di, you and me just keep it a secret, and I'll help you be a stuper-hero when you grow up." Her face lit like Christmas at that, and she hugged his neck tight. For every night he had wondered where Jake and Irina were, he would have a night of knowing this child was safe.

`~`~`~`~`

"She says the world's growing too dark," Larry told Ted the next night, shooting a game of pool at the pub.

"All the more reason the kid needs trained. I saw that shiner the kid next door has. He's what two years older?" Ted was baffled by Dinah's logic, but proud of his Hellcat.

"Four, actually." Larry shook his head. "I can't go against her. You know the troubles we had…"

"Yeah." Ted had seriously been tempted to turn the senior Dinah over his knee at the first suspicion of those troubles.

"But I don't like it one bit. I just wish someone might be willing to keep Dinah in the dark," Larry said casually. Ted nodded, then jerked and glanced at his friend before taking a shot.

"Yeah, that would be a hoot." Ted was grinning as he banked his shot, and started a solid run on the table.

"Be nice to know my little girl can fight her way out of any dark times coming." Larry smiled slyly. 

"I think that's the right kind of wish to have." And Ted knew just how to make it happen. He was sure Little Di was smart enough to follow an act to hoodwink her mother while they trained.

* * *

Ted leaned in, kissed Dinah on the cheek, shook hands with Larry, and then grinned. "Where's my hellcat?" No sooner had Dinah Senior opened her mouth to fuss at his language than the child in question, her long black braids flying behind her, launched into his arms from the back of the sofa.

"Unca Ted!" She grinned, missing about three teeth, and snuggled into his arms tightly. Her nightgown, bearing the symbol of the Flash from one corner to her shoulder, twisted up as she wiggled to get down not three seconds later. "Wanna teach me to box?" She asked, her blue eyes full of energy.

"Dinah Laurel Lance!" her mother said, getting an unrepentant cringe from the child. "Ted is here to baby-sit, not teach you unladylike conduct." The elder Dinah's eyes fell on Ted at that stiff reminder.

"Okay Momma D," Ted teasingly told her. "Larry, get the she-beast outta here, so I can get Little D to settle down." Ted ignored the small slap on his arm from the senior Dinah so he could go sit on the sofa. "C'mon, Di; you and me need to finish that little game of paper-rock-scissors." 

"Beer in the fridge, Ted…help yourself," Larry said, settling his wife's mink stole in place before walking her out. The former champion boxer and his young ward dutifully played a tame game for five minutes, listening to the car crank up and roll away. The five minutes passed, and there was no return for anything forgotten, so Ted smiled at the child and nodded.

"Okay, Dinah, go get your trunks and shirt on, so we can box," he told her with a slow grin.

"I love Opera night!" the small child said, flying to do as told as fast as her legs would carry her. She came back in trunks that were just like his had been, and a shirt that matched. She took a guarded stance, let Ted approve it, and then waited for him to start.

"So how far did we get last time?" He matched her stance, throwing a small punch in the air, to see her mirror it perfectly. Black Canary was adamant about the girl not becoming a superhero, or even a cop like her dad, but the raw talent begged to be shaped. 

"Uncle Jay had just run up a ramp and thrown his hat at the Monocle," she dutifully repeated, from their last boxing lesson and story.

"Ahh yeah," he said, picking up the thread of his story for her as they walked through what she already had learned. They would continue for an hour or so, with the story becoming choppy, as he taught her new steps, flurries, or low blows. And she'd laugh, ask questions for the story, or screw her face up in concentration to learn the correct way to block a punch. Ted was wrapped around the child's finger, and it showed in the way she worshiped him.

When Dinah's little muscles felt sore, they stopped, grabbed some water and an apple to split, while Dinah sat on the counter near her uncle. "Am I going to be as good as you when I grow up, Unca Ted?"

"Better, hellcat. Better." He smiled at her. "Just got to get yer ma to let me take you places. I think Al needs to see you, and he'd keep our secret." He scooped her up as she nodded sleepily. "Let's get you to bed, Di," he whispered. She kissed his cheek softly. 

"Okay, Unca Ted." She dutifully slipped down and went to change, calling that she was in bed, so he could come tuck her in. When he did, she smiled up at him. "Unca Ted, will mommy ever like me being a superhero?"

"I'm sure she'll be proud, when she realizes you're following your heart, hellcat." He leaned down and kissed her forehead. "Sleep, now, and remember that no matter how strong or fast you are, it's all about heart." She nodded, closing her eyes, as he snugged the covers over her. He smiled again, seeing her holding the stuffed Wildcat Joan had made for her.

"Night, Unca Ted."

"Night, Little D." He walked out with one more glance, to see she's already asleep, and as beautiful as a dream. "Your momma won't keep you from your dreams," he promised himself softly.

* * *

The adults mingled and drank their martinis or gin and tonics or scotch and sodas as the party lingered on. Little Dinah wandered around, precocious in her insistence she was a big girl. Larry had forestalled the argument over bedtime, insisting their daughter would wind down, and then he would take her to bed, but it couldn't hurt for her to play board games with some of the other children who had been brought.

Board games, though, left the child bored, especially as those older children did not think she was worth playing with. She wandered from where the women were talking about their children and their houses and their gardens over to where her daddy and some of the men were, approaching unseen as the loveseat hid her.

"So, Larry, when's the new baby due?" one of the men, a policeman still on the force, asked.

"There isn't one," Larry managed, keeping his temper under wraps. He sometimes hated the way his former peers went for any soft spot they knew of, just to rub it in that he was off the force, no longer living the life he wanted.

"Little woman still has you on that leash. Too bad." Talk moved to other little ways that Larry wasn't wearing the pants in his family then, with Larry doing his best to moderate his tone with them. He wanted to tell them all to go to hell in a handbasket, that his little angel was enough for him. But he wasn't going to tell them that, just as he and his wife had long since chosen to hide the fact they couldn't have more children. Better to be perceived as choosing not to have more, than to have all the false pity given to a woman who could not bear, especially when it was all tied up in the JSA anyway.

He spotted his daughter as his former coworker launched into another insulting speech, and firmly excused himself to put her to bed.

It would be a while before he returned, given that the peace of his only chick was just what he needed to soothe the temper in him.


End file.
